Build an article system
Define headlines, summaries, author information, publication dates, media and corrections. The reading experience should work comfortably on mobile, with related reporting and clear navigation back to the relevant section.
News & independent publishing
Give the reporting a platform built to publish.
We scope websites and publishing workflows for local news businesses, independent journalists, magazines and digital publishers. Readable articles, clear authorship, useful archives and an editorial operation need to work together from the first story onwards.
01 / The audience
Start with the person on the other side.
A news website has both a reader journey and a publishing workflow. Visitors need to find, read and return to reporting, while editors need a dependable process for drafts, review, updates and corrections. We plan both before selecting page layouts or platform features.
Make the archive useful
Organise sections, topics, search and author pages around the publication’s coverage. Avoid a homepage-only approach in which older reporting becomes difficult to find as soon as a new story appears.
Plan the business model
Advertising, newsletters, memberships and subscriptions create different requirements. We scope placements, provider connections and reader access around the publication’s actual revenue and editorial plans.
02 / A useful page plan
A structure with a job to do.
This is a planning starting point. The final page list depends on your services, content and the actions your visitors need to complete.
Homepage and sections
A clear hierarchy for current reporting and relevant topic areas.
Article pages
Readable stories with authorship, meaningful dates and update information.
Authors and publication
Journalist profiles, publication details and editorial contact routes.
Archive and reader services
Search, newsletters, subscriptions or advertising information where scoped.
03 / Search & discovery
Help people find the right information.
We review crawlable article content, internal discovery, canonical URLs and the accuracy of article metadata. Structured data should describe the reporting visible on the page. Inclusion in news products, search rankings or AI answers is controlled by the platforms and cannot be promised by a website build.
We can review technical accessibility, page structure, content gaps and the path from discovery to enquiry. SEO setup, ongoing search work and a standalone audit have different scopes. Search engines and AI platforms make their own inclusion and ranking decisions.
04 / Behind the website
Make the hand-off work for your team.
Editor roles, draft review, media management and correction handling require an agreed workflow. A subscription or advertising platform may involve external providers and additional development. A newsroom publishing system is quoted separately from a small brochure website.
We agree which tool owns the information, who receives a request and what the visitor sees next. Provider subscriptions, additional infrastructure and custom development are identified in the proposal.
05 / Review your current site
Three checks worth making.
- Can readers identify the author and publication or update date?
- Can editors maintain stories without breaking the reading layout?
- Are archives, section links and newsletter routes useful on mobile?
06 / Working together
From a clear brief to a working website.
Discover
We discuss the audience, priority tasks, existing tools and who will approve the content.
Scope
We agree the pages, functionality, provider connections, responsibilities and billing before building.
Build & review
Design and content are reviewed against the agreed visitor journeys on mobile and desktop.
Launch & maintain
We test the final destinations, agree ownership and plan updates around the way your team operates.
07 / Common questions
Before we start.
Is a news website the same as a business website?
No. Recurring publishing, editorial roles, archives and media management need their own scope. Revenue features such as subscriptions add further requirements.
Can you guarantee inclusion in Google News?
No. We can work on technical accessibility, publication structure and accurate metadata. Platforms make their own inclusion and ranking decisions.
Start a project
Let’s build around your audience.
Bring your questions, your current website or an idea for what comes next.
- We reply personally, usually within a day
- A fixed proposal after a short discovery
- Global projects, built around you